Copy 1 



THE 

COTTON GRADER 



OR 



HOW TO CLASSIFY COTTON 



^MSf^ 



MCAR 





THE 

Cotton Grader 



OR 



How to Classify Cotton 



A Complete Work 



For the Farmer — For Everbody 
Teaches Quickly — Teaches Thoroughly 



A GUIDE BOOK 



THAT 



ENABLES THE PRODUCER TO STAND UP IN 
THE MARKET— SAY WHAT HE HAS TO SELL 
—AND CLAIM HIS RIGHTS. 

ARRANGED BY A COMMITTEE OF EXPERT 
CLASSIFIERS HAVING THE PRACTICAL EX- 
PERIENCE OF MANY YEARS IN ACTIVE 
FIELD WORK, AND SENT OUT UNDER THE 
AUSPICES OF THE INTERSTATE COTTON 
COLLEGE. 

EDITED BY N. J. McARTHUR, PRESIDENT OF 
THE INTERSTATE COTTON COLLEGE, AND 
PUBLISHED BY THE COTTON GRADER 
PUBLISHING CO., ATLANTA, GEORGIA. 



(All Rights Reserved.) 






»«* 



•fc 




Press of 

Converse & Wing Publishing Company 

Atlanta, Georgia 



&f trawrfei 

Fc3 3 1916- 






/»- 






INDEX 



PAGE 

Cotton 5 

Custom and Precedent 6 

Classification Basis 8 

Staple, Color, Conditions, Quality 9 

Type and Types io 

Varieties of Cotton 1 1 

Foreign Cottons 12 

American Cottons 12 

Sub-Divisions 13 

Orleans or Gulf — Texas and Uplands 13 

•The Principle of Cotton Grading 14 

Fiber the Unit of Staple Value 15 

Comparative Quality of Staple 16 

A Closer Study of the Fiber 17 

Natural Twist of the Fiber 17 

Unripe Fibers— Dead Cotton 18 

Broken Fiber 19 

Stained Fiber '.' .\ '. . />. .*- & 20 

Boll Stain — Hoop Stain — Oil Stain 20 — 21 

Fungoid or Mildew 21 

Damaged Cotton 21 

Fiber in Bulk 21 

Fiber Impurities 22 

Broken Leaves 22 

Broken Seeds 22 

Sand and Soil Impurities 23 

Dampness 2^ 

Structural Composition 25 

Drvness 26 



PAGE 

Flexibility and Elasticity 26 

Grades of Cotton 2.7 

American Market Exchange Classification 27 

Grade Classification 28 

New Terms of Classification 29 

Difference in Value of Grades 30 

Tinge 3 1 

Sea Island Cotton 31 

Grading Foreign Cotton 31 

Grading and Light 31 

Color 32 

Vision and Touch 33 

Where the Farmer Stands 35 

Speculators and Not Manufacturers Responsible .36 

A Study of Classification 36 

The Basis 37 

Codes or Number and Letter Grading 38 

A Quotation — The Farmer a Victim 39 

Advisory 40 

A Warning 41 



PREFACE 



This Book is intended to give a clear, comprehen- 
sive idea of the Art of Cotton Grading and Clas- 
sifying. As to whether or not that work has been 
accomplished, he who reads it with the view of 
learning the Art will answer, "Yes." The Fiber is 
made the unit of classification. Every form and 
variety of Fiber is described and every character of 
impurity that might affect it is discussed. As 
these conditions are shown and explained, the 
grade or class to which that particular sample or 
kind of cotton belongs is given. The way of exam- 
ining is made so plain that any one can understand 
it. 

This is the First Work of the kind ever publish- 
ed. Writers, like buyers, have seemingly consid- 
ered the subject beyond the comprehension of an 
ordinary Farmer. At least for some reason they 
have acquiesced in the buyers' opinion that grad- 
ing and naming the price of Cotton was something 
of which the Farmer should exercise no primary 
judgment. Just a little agitation has aroused the 
Farmers to a sense of their helplessness in this 
respect, and when they are told that it requires, 
in connection with a very short treatise on the sub- 
ject, only a limited course of practical application 
in their own homes to make them fairly proficient, 
they will doubtless profit by the opportunity pre- 
sented in this small yet complete exposition of the 
subject. Every Farmer should know how to grade 
his own cotton. This book will teach him the Art. 

THE AUTHORS. 



THE COTTON GRADER 



COTTON. 



As to variety of subjects and quantity of mat- 
ter, much has been written about Cotton. We have 
books and volumes of books that tell us about its 
antiquity, the countries where it may grow, the 
various kinds of Cotton grown, how and where 
it is manufactured and how the farmer should plant, 
fertilize, cultivate, gather, gin and haul it to mar- 
ket. We have books that tell us about machinery 
for manufacturing the By-Products, others full of 
statistical and other information, touching upon the 
future labor to be used in its production, or giving 
the great Exchange system of fixing its price. In 
fact, everything from the planting of the seed to 
the problem of transportation has been written 
about without limit. 

Not Everything. 

No; there is one thing about which, as a sub- 
ject, no line has ever yet before been written. If 
this effort shall go out to the public, it will be the 
First to appear as a written thesis upon the ques- 
ion of Grading and Classifying Cotton. 

The farmer has been instructed in the way best 
to plant, cultivate and gather, but only by chance 
has he ever learned the difference between the 
grades of "Fair" and "Inferior" cotton. He has 
been educated to hold his cotton for a higher 

■5 



price, but he, the average farmer, does not know 
whether he is holding- "Good Middling*' or "Low 
Ordinary.". , 

It is contended that no valuable instruction of a 
theoretical character can be given upon the subject 
of Grading Cotton. This is not true, only as it 
may mean that a thorough knowledge of the art 
must combine the practical with the theoretical. It 
could as reasonably be claimed that a man who is 
not a college graduate does not know anything, 
and that no acquaintance with a subject short of a 
perfect knowledge has any real worth. The idea 
is absurd. If an expert classifier should say to you 
that a sample of cotton is of a certain grade and 
class because its staple is of a given dimension, its 
color is white, it feels live, flexible and elastic to the 
touch, 'its fiber is uniformly good, it shows no injury 
from previous dampness, it is not stained and it 
is comparatively clean, could you not see these sev- 
eral and various points of classification as he men- 
tioned them ? Suppose next that instead of having 
the sample in hand, he should simply describe one 
of that kind, and ask you to select from a lot of cot- 
ton before you a bale that would correspond with 
the described grade, could you not, on first trial, 
perform the assigned task? Again, if instead of 
communicating with you, orally, he should write 
out this description, could you not as well, or bet- 
ter, comply with his request? Could you not soon 
return to him and say: "Here, Mr. Classifier, is 
your bale of Middling Cotton"? Assuredly any in- 
telligent man could do this, and what he could do 
in selecting this grade he could do in selecting 
any other. 

We are creatures of custom. Often men fight, 



bleed and die, zealously, heroically and patriotically, 
defending causes, which, in so far as they may knoyv 
through personal investigation, might prove un- 
worthy the name. Custom is a tyrant. It is a ruler 

whose sway is never abated by age. Precedent 
is a despot, unfeeling-, exacting- and domineering. 
"In the way our fathers trod" is a commendable 
sentiment of veneration, and as a guide for our 
steps, may have man}- shining exceptions, but, in 
the main, the path which should have been lighted 
by experience remains darkened, and leads us often 
over a rough and stony road. Who declares that 
the farmer of the South, he that grows annually 
twenty bales of cotton, is utterly disqualified, un- 
der any character of preparatory effort, to grade 
his own cotton and know what it may be worth? 
The answer is, "Custom." How is it, he, the in- 
telligent farmer, man or boy, cannot do this, when 
almost any city lad with a half season's warehouse 
experience can do it? The answer is, "Precedent 
has arranged it so, and precedent must be ob- 
served." Why is it these self same cotton growers 
make no effort to set aside those customs and pre- 
cedents which are so detrimental to their finan- 
cial interests? The only answer seems to be that, 
though it should be quite expensive, they prefer 
to "Walk in the way our fathers trod." It is pre- 
sumptiously assumed by the cotton buyer, both 
agent and principal, that no one else connected' 
with the transaction but the buyer is capable of 
judging the grade and value of the cotton to be 
sold and bought. This is tacitly conceded to be 
a proper assumption by the farmer's commercial 
neighbors and friends, and by him is helplessly 
agreed to — all because it has been a custom so to do. 



So strongly has habit or precedent established itself 
in relation to the question of Cotton Classification, 
that the idea of "special professional acquirement 
or gift" seems to prevail in the face of all logic 
and argument to the contrary. In a conversation 
with an old cotton buyer friend the fact was men- 
tioned that this Guide to Cotton Classifying was 
being prepared. He expressed surprise that such 
a work should be undertaken, declaring it wholly 
impracticable. He went so far as to declare he 
would not be willing to go upon record and risk 
his future reputation by making a written descrip- 
tion of an}- grade of cotton. When questioned 
closely, as to why not, he could not in answer go 
beyond the illogical word, "unprecedented." How- 
ever, he admitted that a very great deal of "valua- 
ble theoretical" information could be given. "Theo- 
retical" information is exactly the kind pro- 
posed to be given, and it is offered with the hon- 
est hope that it may prove "valuable." Until the 
seller and the buyer can meet upon common ground, 
both knowing the grade and market value of the 
article to be sold, the man who does not know is 
wholly at the mercy of the man who does know. 

Classification Basis. 

Cotton is classified, not according to variety, but 
by Grades and Types as indicated by the staple 
and its condition. 

Variety means kind, and its designating name re- 
fers, principally, to the place, country, or part of 
the country, where the soil and climate are adapted 
to the growth of that particular kind of Cotton. Or 
a variety name may be given to an improved spe- 
cies. 



Grade embraces staple, color, condition and qual- 
ity. 

Staple is the measure of the fiber, as to whether 
it may be long or short, fine or coarse, strong or 
weak, with or without natural twist, uniform or 
irregular, dead or live, elastic or brittle — the whole 
comprising the qualities of length and strength. 

Color in grading applies to white, as a base, 
and to all the regular shades from that to the 
brown or Nankin. It does not include stains, fleck- 
marks, spots or other discolorations. 

Condition follows upon a multiplicity of causes. 

(i) SOUNDNESS— as indicated by strength of 
fiber, or by freedom from the effects of present or 
previous dampness. 

(2) FIRMNESS— as it may feel responsively 
live or dead to the touch — elastic and flexible. 

(3) CLEANLINESS— as it may have more or 
less trash or "dirt." 

(4) DISCOLORATION— as from boll-stain— 
from dampness in seed — from possible soil stain — 
from the dry burr marks of late picking — from hoop- 
stain and from oil stain. 

(5) MOLES — as from faulty ginning or from im- 
mature seed and seed ends. 

1(6) INEQUALITY— as from mixing different 
kinds or varieties of seed cotton. 

(7) SPOTS — as from mildew or fungoid or from 
foliage rust-stain ; and, 

(8) NON-DEVELOPMENT— as shown by the 
lack of spiral form or natural twist in the fiber and 
by the unequal length and strength of the fiber 
resulting from a mixture of ripe, half-ripe and dead 
staple. 



Quality is that estimate of rating which is based 
upon the combination of staple, color and condi- 
tion. To tell the quality is to name the grade or 
classification. 

Type. 

Type is more properly a manufacturing term as 
applied to grades, but it is one with which the 
field classifier must be acquainted. It is a selected 
grade of cotton about which and with which other 
approximate grades, higher and lower, may be com- 
bined in harmonious blending. This produces a mix- 
ture differing from all its component parts, bet- 
ter than the lower but not so good as the higher, 
and, of course, unlike the original type grade. By 
this method, classifying by the manufacturer is re- 
duced from the broad range of diversified grades, to 
a few types which embrace the better part of these 
grades. The economy attending this order of ar- 
rangement gives, from the several grades selected, 
a uniform finished product; whereas, if each were 
taken separately, it would, in itself, constitute a 
specific type. It also enables the manufacturer the 
more easily to supply himself with stock, as a large 
bulk of cotton of any given classification is not al- 
ways readily obtainable. 

Types are made up at, or as it may be for, the 
mills and factories by qualified expert cotton grad- 
ers. Here you will find an artist who knows his 
profession. He does not know, necessarily, and 
he need not care, whether the cotton he must ex- 
amine so closely is worth in the market one dol- 
lar per pound or only one cent per pound, but he 
does know that the several lots or parcels of cotton 
he has selected, varying in weight and classifica- 

T o 



tion, after being mixed and taken through all the 
preparatory processes, must produce a combination 
which shall give, as a finished product, one without 
noticeable difference from that resulting from a 
previous combination of a similar character, and, 
likewise, from others he must make in future to 
fill a uniform large order. 

A knowledge of this kind has been the profes- 
sional capital of the field cotton buyer, as a lack 
of its possession by the cotton producer has long 
kept him on the roll of the victimized. Ye buyer 
understands well the art of "putting up" types, and 
though there could be no harm in "putting up" an 
honest type, it is barely fair to work the damaging 
"average up" plan on the farmer, when in most 
cases it means "average down." Under our pres- 
ent system of handling cotton, the buyer is entitled 
to his commission or his rightful speculative profits, 
but the "average up" plan should be stopped by the 
seller till he, himself, learns how to "average up." 
Every farmer who grows cotton should know how 
to grade, classify and type or average up any as- 
sorted lot or number of bales he may offer to sell. 
In the sense here discussed the term type means 
to average, or to combine different grades for mar- 
keting at a "lump figure." 

Type is also a term of distinction used by manu- 
facturers to indicate variety. In the American mills, 
classification we have the Sea Island, some for- 
eign, and the several Uplands varieties each consti- 
tuting a type. 

Varieties of Cotton. 

Many exhaustive treatises have been written upon 
the Botany of Cotton. For a history of the plant 

ii 



these works are referred to, but in this effort no 
attempt will be made to go beyond the naming- of 
the different foreign and home varieties and show- 
ing their textile comparison. 

Foreign Cottons. 

The Brown Egyptian is a very fine fibered long 
stapled cotton. It is used in the manufacture of 
high grade yarns and fabrics, and a considerable 
quantity is annually imported into the United States 
for that purpose. All other varieties of Egyptian 
Cotton are considered inferior. 

The China and India cottons are both of very 
low grade. The China is consumed entirely at 
home, but India exports a large part of her raw 
product to Europe. 

The South American cottons are of many va- 
rieties. The principal two are the Brazilian and 
the Peruvian. The Brazilian goes chiefly to Eu- 
rope, but our American manufacturers use a great 
deal of the Peruvian (red) in the manufacture of 
special lines and in the making up of types. Other 
varieties of the South American cotton are classed 
with the Mexican product and are considered unim- 
portant both in bulk and quality. 

American Cotton. 

This designation applies only to the product of 
the United States of North America and the adja- 
cent islands. 

• Sea Island is considered an American product. It 
is grown principally on the islands off the South 
Atlantic coast. All points of merit considered, it 
ranks highest in the grades of cotton the world 
over. Sea Island cotton is grown also on the main 

12 



land of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, that 
of Florida being the best, but still distinguishable 
as a lower grade than that of the island product. 
The American mainland cotton and its many 
classes or kinds, both native and improved, is next 
to be mentioned. The quantity of this general va- 
riety is greater than that produced by all other 
parts of the world combined, and the value set 
upon its middle or basic grade controls the price 
of cotton in all commercial quarters of the globe. 

Sub-Divisions. 

The most important of the several divisions or 
varieties of the American mainland cotton is that 
known as the Orleans or Gulf. These names em- 
brace a number of included varieties, all, in the 
market, being understood as virtually the same. Its 
staple is both long and strong, measuring in length 
from one inch to one and one-half inches, and hav- 
ing a tensile capacity highly valued by spinners. 

Products from the fields of the higher inland river 
valley lands of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama. 
Arkansas and Tennessee are only slightly inferior 
to the Orleans, but they constitute a marketable 
variety. 

Texas cotton stands alone as a separate variety. 
It varies from seven-eights to one inch in length 
of staple. The product of the Brazos Valley, how- 
ever, ranks above this rating and is appreciated in 
both the home and foreign markets much above the 
commonly accepted Texas variety. 

Uplands embraces all that yield coming from the 
territory not designated as the home of the sev- 
eral special sub-Varieties mentioned. Uplands cot- 

13 



ton has a staple from three-fourths of an inch to 
one inch in standard length. _ 

A carefully grown, well developed, cleanly gath- 
ered, properly ginned and wrapped bale of white 
Uplands cotton forms the basic center from which 
all higher or lower grades are determined. Up- 
lands has its many "Improved" varieties, and its 
sub-varieties are almost as numerous as the va- 
ried characters of the soil, the latitude and the al- 
titude of the fields where they are severally grown. 
Uplands, however varied, is Uplands and a clas- 
sifier who may be able to grade one of its varieties 
may as easily grade all of them. 

The Principle of Cotton Grading. 

In every development there is a basic point from 
which growth begins. It is well known that a 
proper solution of any mathematical question de- 
pends upon a careful starting with its unit. As 
applied in mathematics so the rule must be made 
to operate in all things. If we wish to understand 
by investigation any given proposition, we must 
work out' from its initial point. We must go to its 
base for our first and only correct comprehension 
of its parts. Again there is a law governing the 
economy of action which prohibits the attempted 
performance of two different acts at one and the 
same time. "Do one thing and do it well, then 
do the second thing and do it better" is a nice 
old proverb. If you wish to learn the art of 
grading cotton, and should take up the study, give 
your attention to that branch of cotton study alone, 
and let every non-essential collateral element of 
cotton be put aside for the time. From this pre- 
liminary it might be argued that in the cotton seed 

14 



is the germ, the unit, the initial point from which 
to move out in the start to study cotton. I have he- 
fore told you that volumes and volumes have l»een 
written upon cotton with our subject, Cotton Grad- 
ing, left out. These writers begin with the seed 
and have taken you everywhere else hut to a 
knowledge of classifying the staple about which, 
otherwise, they have written so much. 

Our subject, Cotton Grading, has its unit, an 
initial point, a starting place, that is wholly and 
entirely its own. If from a bale, or any large bulk 
of cotton, you should take away, part by pari, the 
smallest quantity you could separate from the gen- 
eral mass, in the course of time, though it should 
be a long time, you would come to a last small 
part, a single fillament, and this is your Cotton 
Grading Unit. It is a simple 

Fiber. 

To learn to classify cotton here your study be- 
gins. You must know all about the single fiber 
and its combinations with other fibers of the same 
or of different kinds. Despise not the study of 
small things if you would undertake the considera- 
tion of the cotton fiber, for you are to take only 
one and it is so small that it would require one 
hundred and forty millions like it to weigh one 
pound. 

The cotton fiber casually observed presents a de- 
ceptive appearance. Viewed thus it looks to be a 
small, long, solid and perfectly round body, but 
upon closer observation it shows itself as a narrow- 
flattened tube, twisted in form, and in this re- 
spect, resembling somewhat a spirally curled hair. 
The fiber has its tip extremity closed but its base 

15 



is fastened like a mouth to its mother seed, from 
which it feeds itself by a capillary process to ma- 
turity. Fiber does not taper in form. It has the 
same diameter in all the parts of its length. It has 
a large or small cavity, and is flat, or retains more 
nearly its apparent cylindrical form, according to its 
full or its imperfect development. A perfect fiber 
is covered by a thin clinging dust like membrane, 
called by botanists the "cuticula" or skin. This 
covering sometimes goes with the fiber through 
the factory into yarns or other products, but oftener 
it disappears in the form of gin dust or mill dust. 
It is comparatively weightless and neither adds to 
nor detracts from the value of the staple. 

Fiber may be fully developed and still be short 
or long according to its parent variety. The range 
of length is from one-half inch to two inches. This 
measure of fiber length is designated its staple 
and is the first item to be considered in grading or 
assigning value. Other items, however, relating to 
the fiber construction are to be reckoned. They 
are the core or diameter and their strength or ten- 
sile power of resistance. 

The following shows the relative diameter, length, 
and strength of the fiber belonging to the several 
varieties presented : 



Length, 
inches. 
Sea Island . . . i .61 
Orleans .... 1.02 
Texas . . . .1.00 

Uplands 93 

Egyptian . . . 1.41 
Indian . . . . .89 





Breaking 


Diameter, 


strain, 


inches. 


grains. 


.000640 


83-9 


.000775 


147-7 


.000765 


109.5 


.000763 


104.5 


. 000665 


127.2 


. 000894 


160.7 



16 



This table is given to show that the fiber with 
the greatest diameter is the strongest and that 
usually the coarser grades of fiber belong to the 
shorter staples. 

The measure of tension or breaking strain of a 
single fiber is estimated by spinners to be from 
five to ten grams or from eighty to one hundred 
and sixty grains, or an average of about fifty fibers 
to sustain a pound. 

A Closer Study of the Fiber. 

Again let the fact be emphasized that the cotton 
classifier must be perfectly familiar with the unit 
of classification. Impurities found in cotton are to 
him a secondary matter. They are usually easily 
traced and their causes located. Never let any ap- 
pearance or condition of a cotton sample take you 
away from a study of the fiber as the part most 
affected by that condition. 

After the cotton boll fully matures and opens, a 
few days of exposure to air and sunlight are bene- 
ficial, in the way of giving to the slower matur- 
ing parts of the pod mature development, and to 
the whole spiral individuality of fiber. But if left 
longer than this, exposed to heat and air, the fiber 
will tend to become harsh and brittle, and the lon- 
ger so left the more perceptible these injuries be- 
come. Besides, if strong winds prevail, dust and 
sand will be blown into the open cotton, and if it 
should rain much, water stain will follow. 

Natural Twist. 

The Natural twist of the cotton fiber varies from 
about two hundred turns to the inch in good grade 
Uplands to three hundred turns per inch or more 

17 



in the best Sea Island product. In connection with 
its length the value of the fiber hinges upon this 
quality, as in manufacturing the joining process 
with other fibers depends upon this as an inter- 
locking principle. Manufacturers use the micro- 
scope to ascertain exact spiral character, but this 
does not imply that the ordinary grading classifier, 
with his natural vision, holding a sample section 
in hand, could not determine quite well enough for 
practical purposes the presence or absence of this 
quality, just iri the same way he would form con- 
clusive opinion as to length, strength and other 
special characteristics of the fiber under examina- 
tion. 

Unripe Fibers. 

In every sample of cotton, from the highest to the 
lowest grade, half-ripe and totally dead fibers may 
be found. Nature in many instances may be able 
to parade its lines of perfection, but as small a quan- 
tity as a single pound of perfectly developed and 
matured lint cotton is not to be included on its 
list. In a single pound of cotton there are about 
one hundred and forty million separate and dis- 
tinct developments of independent fiber. In a bale 
of cotton there are about five hundred pounds. 
Then, though a bale of cotton may be classed 
"Fair" or "Extra" or "Good," terms representing 
the highest classification of the leading three varie- 
ties, we are not to look for a total absence of any 
of the defects upon which such classification is 
based. As to half-ripe and dead fibers, their pres- 
ence is natural. Blights may fall upon the bearing 
plant after one-half the bolls have matured in a 
healthful form. In like manner the bruising or 

18 



breaking of limbs on a part of the stalk would 
cause a similar order of variable ripening. Fibers 
in the same boll do not all mature simultaneously, 
yet the boll opens to accommodate the ripe and 
presents the unripe to the picker in its undeveloped 
state. Therefore, half-ripe and dead fibers are to 
be looked for naturally in every sample of cotton. 
Of course, if they should form too great a percent- 
age of the general bulk, which is sometimes the 
case, a corresponding lower estimate should be 
made of the grade, but you should know that "Dead 
Cotton" is a favorite term used by unscrupulous 
buyers who seek to undergrade. We do not need 
the microscope to detect the presence of half-ripe 
or dead fibers in a specimen sample. The half- 
ripe is shorter than the mature staple and has less 
spiral turns in proportion to its length. The dead 
fiber is like a lifeless parasite winding around 
and clinging to the mature and the half-ripe 
fibers. A careful examination, suggested by lack- 
ing elasticity and flexibility, will show the grader 
these qualities. If only the normal quantity 
is found they may be passed ' unnoticed, but 
if they appear in exaggerated form the grade is to 
be correspondingly lowered. 

Broken Fiber. 

The inferior or unfit condition of a gin, or the 
rapidity of its revolution causes the saw-gin to dou- 
ble cut the fiber, taking it from the seed in two 
sections or leaving a part of the fiber with the 
seed. This does not occur with the use of the roller 
gin, used for long staple cotton, but sometimes, with 
it, there is a rude rupture of the fiber noticeable. 
With a saw-gin this defect would almost certainly 

19 



go through the entire bale under examination, and 
perhaps through many others. It is easily discov- 
ered and detracts considerably from an otherwise 
good grade of cotton. 

Stained Fiber. 

One drop of ink in a glass of clear water utterly 
mars the purity of its appearance. A less propor- 
tionate part of stained cotton in any sized sample 
would indicate a greater apparent departure from 
perfection. One stained fiber in a small pinch of 
cotton, pulled through the fingers of the examiner 
shows like a multitude of wriggling rainbows cir- 
cling a section of clearly outlined horizon. Stains, 
whether important or unimportant, are good capi- 
tal for the decrying buyer, who would take advan- 
tage, in a purchase from the uninformed producer. 
Under the head of "Conditions," on a preceding 
page, are enumerated and named the different kinds 
of lint stain, considered by the field buyer, in his 
deals with the farmer and the country merchant. 
Here I shall refer to the commercial stain only. 

Boll Stain. 

Boll stain is caused by water that has entered a 
partly opened boll and saturated the inner pod. The 
coloring matter from the inner membrane is wash- 
ed into the general lower body of the pod and 
gives to it a red or brown shade. This is con- 
sidered of not much importance, as in the manufac- 
turing processes of dying and sizing such stains 
would disappear. 

Hoop Stains. 

Hoop .Stain is nothing more nor less than iron 
band rust and really, in itself, amounts to only the 

20 



loss of a few ounces of cotton to the bale. How- 
ever, it suggests a character of neglect or want 
of care pointing to other impurities, and forms of 
damage, and furnishes a good excuse or cause for 
lowering a grade. 

Oil Stain. 

Oil Stain is caused by the crushing of seed in the 
gin ; the exuding oil giving to the fiber a yellowish 
color. If this staining should be general through- 
out the parts of a bale of cotton its value would 
be much reduced. Its waxy and glue-like nature 
retards the process of carding and spinning, and 
such cotton is often wholly rejected by spinners. A 
second kind of oil stain is only a probable stain 
manifesting its almost certain future appearance in 
the form of immature seed in the meshes of baled 
cotton. Separation at the mills is a task too diffi- 
cult to be undertaken, and if left in, they are 
crushed by the mill machinery and regular oil 
stain is the result. "Seeded lint," as it is called, 
and oil stained cotton are to be graded alike. 

Fungoid Stain. 

Fungoid stain is but another name for mildewed 
cotton. It may follow as a result from a number of 
causes. It ranks with "Damaged Cotton," and 
there is no special grade to which it may be as- 
signed. 

Fiber in Bulk. 

Fiber in bulk is cotton lint in large or small 
quantity, or a mass of fibers taken in aggregate 
form. In treating fiber in bulk, the single .fiber 
is supposed to have passed examination as the basis 
of staple, or as it is to be considered the represen- 

21 



tative of the general class of fibers forming the 
larger mass to be graded as a whole. Cleanliness 
and soundness are now the points to be considered. 

Broken Leaves. 

The leaves of the cotton plant, and sometimes 
bearded or hard stemmed grasses in badly cultivat- 
ed fields, are natural factors in reducing the value 
and grade of cotton. A dry leaf in close proximity 
to the open boll is very frequently included in the 
hand grasp of the hurrying picker. If it is not 
removed, it goes with the mass of seed cotton 
through the gin and is broken or cut into small 
fragments. The smaller these particles of leaf are 
made by the gin, the more thoroughly they be- 
come mixed with the fiber, and the more difficult 
they are to remove in the preparatory processes 
at the mills. The larger pieces may fall out of 
their own weight, and on this account are not con- 
sidered so injurious to the grade, but the smaller 
ones remain, and, if very fine, are considered a 
clinging and inseparable impurity. The skeleton of 
the leaf, too, a stick-like tissue, often becomes a 
part of the foreign mass. It is classed "insepara- 
ble," and is, therefore, correspondingly objectiona- 
ble. These impurities, as you see, are themselves 
to be graded. If the cotton sample shows leaf trash 
in large pieces without the stem or skeleton ac- 
companiment, its grade is not badly affected, but, if 
the trash shows in the form of 'smaller pepper-like 
particles, or has the stick cuttings, a careful grader 
will mark it down. 

Broken Seeds. 

This constitutes what is known as one of the 
"Heavy Impurities" of cotton. Broken seeds are 



usually covered with lint or fiber ends, and these 
becoming interlocked with other fibers are difficult 
to remove. In Grading, these impurities are called 
"Shell" or "Bearded Motes." The surplus parts of 
body or fatty ends of seed are often cut into the 
lint roll by close 'ginning. These pieces are also 
called "shell," and rank with heavy impurities. Cot- 
ton affected by these impurities is to be graded 
with the lower type of "Broken Leaf" cotton. 

(Note if the fungus end above mentioned should 
carry a part of the main body of the seed. In such 
case, oil stain would result.) 

Sand and Soil. 

The winds sometimes fill, or, as it is termed, 
"load" open cotton in the bur with sand, and again, 
often it is blown or knocked out upon the ground 
and becomes impregnated, more or less, with sand 
and other earth matter. This affects only the weight 
of the cotton and not its quality, unless soil stain 
or mildew should follow. Spinners, however, claim 
that the extra frictional wear to machinery and 
the danger incurred from fire render it less de- 
sirable and, therefore, it is brought to a lower 
grade. 

Dampness. 

Dampness or moisture is not to be considered 
an impurity, only as it may become the possible 
producing agent of mildew or rot. To form these 
there must be a meeting of the damp parts of a 
bale of cotton with the air from without. Such 
meeting would afford the needed means for evap- 
oration, and thereby the cause of decay or rot would, 
in the main, be removed. Cotton dry enough to 

23 



gin, if immediately compressed would be safe from 
serious harm to be occasioned by dampness. Even 
cotton "wet down" in the compressing or baling 
process would suffer little injury therefrom, a!s 
evaporation would be very rapid. If, however, the 
place of storage should be damp, or if by con- 
stant exposure to water and exterior dampness, 
evaporation should be prevented, mildew would 
follow and rot would be the result. Cotton is a 
great absorbent. A bale of cotton placed over an 
evaporating pool will drink in dampness like a 
thirsty animal drinking water. Continued -absorp- 
tion with the avenues of evaporation closed would 
soon reduce the fiber and deaden its twist. With its 
quality of elasticity thus destroyed it is in the first 
stage of decomposition. 

In grading a bale of damp cotton, if the mois- 
ture is found to be only near the surface, procure 
a specimen sample below the damp part and clas- 
sify as if no water had been observed. In weighing, 
the proper deduction for water-weight can be made. 
If the dampness should extend into the interior of 
the bale, the classifier is placed in a dilema. Exces- 
sive dampness disturbs normal elasticity and he will 
be able to judge of this quality only as a collateral 
adjunct of the length and strength of the staple 
under examination. He will be able easily to know 
whether this dampness is new or fresh or whether 
it is an old water sob. If the latter, the form 
and strength of the staple, besides the changes be- 
fore mentioned, will show rank abnormal differ- 
ences in fibers of apparently even development. 
Parts of the same sample in dried form will show 
different degrees of elasticity, and an unmistakable 
odor of mustiness will manifest itself. Cotton in 

24 



this condition, no matter what it once may have 
been, is now to be graded "Inferior." If, on the 
contrary, the bale should appear to be generally 
damp, and otherwise sound, its grade is not af- 
fected and a deduction for water-weight from the 
bulk weight of the bale is all that need be done 
in fairness to seller and buyer. 

Structural Composition. 

In a work on Grading and Classifying it is not 
necessary to go into the "Chemistry" of the cotton 
staple. However, as the laws of Fermentation, De- 
composition, Fungi, etc., operate with more or less 
force according to the physical- stability of the 
substance to be acted on, any one desiring thus 
further to investigate is referred to chemistry as 
applied to these questions, and in that connection, 
the following structural analysis of cotton is 
given : 

Fiber, 83.71 per cent. 

Water, 6.74 per cent. 

Free Nitrogen, 5.79 per cent. 

Ash, 1 .65 per cent. 

Protein, 1.50 per cent. 

Fat, .61 per cent. 



100. 



Porosity is a general property of matter, but the 
surface pores of a single fiber of cotton are too 
nearly allied in magnitude to the atomic nature of 
their surroundings to give passage way to the 
combined elements composing water. Hence mois- 
ture of cotton is due wholly to fiber-layer and ca- 
pillary avenues of ingress. 

25 



Dryness. 

In connection with Dampness is to be considered 
a principle of Dryness, that affects the worth of 
cotton. A sample of cotton of average high grade, 
in its normal state, contains nearly seven per cent, 
water. Immerse it in a vessel of water till it be- 
comes thoroughly saturated, then expose it to the 
air and sun for a few hours and it would show 
only its normal quantity or part of water. Subject 
it next to a heating process. Confine it in a bake- 
oven or other drying place till, as nearly as possi- 
ble all moisture is driven out, expose it again to 
the air and from that element it would soon absorb 
moisture enough to have its original normal quan- 
tity. It is this quality of dampness that enables the 
classifier to judge, through its character of elas- 
ticity and flexibility, the presence or absence of the 
necessary vitality in a sample under examination. 
A healthful well developed capillary state of the 
staple gives a normal condition of dampness. This 
in turn through the elasticity and flexibility of a 
sample containing it proves and shows the origin 
of its presence. 

Flexibility. 

As a rule flexibility indicates strength of fiber, 
though short, coarse and strong staples are rather 
more harsh than flexible. A sample of the latter 
kind, in response to the touch or clasp of the hand, 
will show sufficient capillary (cavity) force, to in- 
dicate its right position in the line of grades. If 
from any cause a sample staple should show a qual- 
ity of dryness below that of the normally damp 
stage, it would be indicated by a harsh brittle yield- 
ing to the touch, and upon closer examination it 

26 



would be found wanting- in some of the charac- 
teristic essential points of good grade. 

Grades of Cotton. 

In an American cotton crop of twelve million 
bales, if graded by the bale, it may be truthfully 
asserted that twelve million different and varying 
grades wonld be found. In other words, no two 
bales could be found that would sample "through 
and through" or "out and out" in exact likeness. 
Notwithstanding this fact, there might be found, 
say, one-third of this number of bales that would 
be so nearly alike as to be classed together as one 
type or grade. Another smaller fractional lot, bet- 
ter or worse, higher or lower, finer or coarser, might 
be found that could be placed into another grade. 
And so on, other fractional parts of the twelve mil- 
lion bales might be found having a general 
bulk likeness and similar grade quality, till 
the whole could be embraced in about twen- 
ty of these fractional divisional like parts. 
These twenty or more parts might again be 
sub-grouped into seven or eight distinct quality 
divisions, designated "Full Grades," with which 
higher or lower approximately similar grades may 
be typed, to compose a bulk lot of cotton of a re- 
quired given classification. These approximates are 
designated "Half" and "Quarter" grades. 

The American Exchange Market. 

As an American proposition, both the classifica- 
tion of cotton and the price to be paid for it are 
regulated by a class who have no interest, whatever, 
either in its production or its manufacture. We 

27 



have two great commercial or market "Exchanges" 
located respectively in New York and in New Or- 
leans. Seats in these "Exchanges" are of high 
commercial value, and are of a limited number. The 
membership composing them is supposed to be 
"strictly" American, but it may be remarked, soto- 
voce, that the supposition is "strictly" a supposi- 
tion. From these places the men who have no 
part in producing, hauling or manufacturing cotton, 
designate the terms by which its differing grades 
shall be known, and dictatorially declare what the 
market price shall be. This is only another way 
of showing our American disposition to bow to 
"custom," respect established "precedents," and 
"walk in the way our fathers trod." But the right 
or wrong of this custom is not a matter to be dis- 
cussed here. 

Grade Classification. 

According to American Classification there are 
seven full grades of the mainland varieties with 
which, however, neither the Florida nor the Georgia 
and South Carolina long or Sea Island staples are 
to be included. These seven grades are : Fair, 
Middling Fair, Good Middling, Middling, Low 
Middling, Good Ordinary and Ordinary. Fair is the 
highest and best grade and, therefore, there can 
be no half or quarter grades above it, but, descend- 
ing, all other grades have half or quarter grades 
both above and below them. The complete table of 
American grades used until recently by the commer- 
cial world is as follows : 

(i) FAIR, Barely Fair, Strict Middling Fair and 
FunV Fair. 

A 

v. Y 



28 



/ 



(2) MIDDLING FAIR, Barely Middling Fair, 

Strict Good Middling and Fully Good Mid- 
dling. 

(3) GOOD MIDDLING, Barely Good Middling, 

Strict Middling and Fully Middling. 

(4) MIDDLING, Barely Middling, Strict Low 

Middling and Fully Low Middling. 

(5) LOW MIDDLING, Barely Low Middling, 

Strict Good Ordinary and Fully Good Or- 
dinary. 

(6) GOOD ORDINARY, Barely Good Ordinary 

and Strict Ordinary. 

(7) ORDINARY, Low Ordinary and Inferior. 

This system, or catalog, of classifying terms is as 
old almost as the American cotton market itself. 
When the American cotton exchanges first were 
established, about thirty-five years ago, they adopt- 
ed and used the old classifying terms. But within 
recent years they have dropped out the five grades 
below Good Ordinary, and have substituted or 
added thirteen new terms. These added terms are : 

(I) Strict Good Middling Tinged. (2) Good Mid- 
dling Tinged. (3) Strict Middling Tinged. (4) 
Middling Tinged. (5) Strict Low Middling Tinged. 
(6) Low Middling Tinged. (7) Strict Good Or- 
dinary Tinged. (8) Fully Middling Stained. (9) 
Middling Stained. (10) Barely Middling Stained. 

(II) Strict Low Middling Stained. (12) Fully Low 
Middling Stained, and (13) Low Middling Stained. 
Middling is still made the basis of value, and Good 
Middling Tinged is placed on a par with it. The 
regular classification in its revised form, showing 
the 1907-1908 variation of values is given on next 
page. The difference in value therein quoted is 

29 Jf 



rather more basic than arbitrary, and is changed 
as the demand may increase or decrease for a 
specific type of cotton. 

New York Differences in Grade. 

CENTS. 

Fair 1.75 on 

Strict Middling Fair I-50 

Middling Fair i .25 

Barely Middling Fair 1. 00 

Strict Good Middling .75 

Fully Good Middling .62 

Good Middling .50 

Barely Good Middling .37. 

Strict Middling .25 

Middling . • Basis 

Strict Low Middling .30 off 

Fully Low Middling .65 

Low Middling 1 .00 

Barely Low Middling . . . 1 .25 

Strict Good Ordinary 1 . 50 

Fully Good Ordinary 1 . 75 

Good Ordinary 2.00 

Strict Good Middling Tinged .35 on 

Good Middling Tinged Value of Mid. 

Strict Middling Tinged .20 off 

Middling Tinged .30 

Strict Low Middling Tinged 1 .00 

Low Middling Tinged i-5o 

Strict Good Ordinary 'Tinged 2.00 

Fully Middling Stained 1.00 

Middling Stained 1.25 

Barely Middling Stained 1 . 75 

Strict Low Middling Stained 2 -25 

Fully Low Middling Stained 2.62 

Low Middling Stained 3-00 

30 



Tinge. 

The term "Tinge" or "Tinged" as applied in 
this classification refers to natural color only, and 
not to any stain or dye from extraneous causes. The 
color of cotton is strongly marked by the character 
of the soil upon which it is produced. Dingy gray, 
cream, yellowish brown and other shades are com- 
mon departures from white, which "is the color 
quality of the best grades. 

Sea Island Cotton. 

Sea Island cotton is classed in only two (Ameri- 
can) varieties and seven grades. The varieties are 
the Island proper and the Mainland. A distinction 
between the Florida product and that of Georgia 
and Carolina is sometimes made. This would give 
a third variety. The grades are : Extra Fine, Fine, 
Medium Fine, Good Medium, Medium, Common 
and Ordinary. 

Egyptian and India cotton, and the South Ameri- 
can product have each a large number of varieties, 
but a limited order of grade classifications. In 
this work it is not at all necessary to quote these 
points specifically, as its scope is intended to em- 
brace only the American classification. 

Grading and Light. 

Again we are brought to the unit of classification, 
the fiber. To judge properly the character of a sam- 
ple staple, we must be able to see it under favora- 
ble conditions. Since it is a reflection of the direct 
ray of light falling upon an object that brings it 
to view, the best view is to be obtained by making 
the line of vision and the line of direct rav to coin- 

3i 



cide. That is, in homely parlance, we must look 
at an object from the direction the light comes. In 
this, the latitude of the American cotton-belt, the 
sun in his path of apparent travel from east to west, 
sheds an inclining or direct ray from the south. In 
the open, that is, at the wagon on the street, the 
bulk of the cotton crop is first sampled. Here the 
experienced buyer, if the day is cloudless, will turn 
his back to the sun, and proceed with his inspec- 
tion. But if the day should be partly cloudy, so that 
direct rays from the sun would be obstructed, he 
would turn from the sun to the largest belt of open 
skylight presented, to obtain its reflected rays as a 
best light for examination. On the outside, how- 
ever, the eye of the experiencd or inexperienced 
examiner would doubtless accommodate itself to 
the best light conditions, the only difference be- 
ing that the examiner with experience would take 
his position naturally and quickly, whereas the 
other might move in the line of experiment. Off 
the street — within walls or under shelter — with sam- 
ples on the board, the item of good light is all 
important. Light openings, admitting direct rays 
from the south, southeast or southwest, are usually 
too beaming. Similar objection may be raised to 
the overhead light, on account of its "borrowed" 
glare. The best light, then, is that to be reflected 
on a bright day from an open clear expanse of 
northern skylight. This affords a soft mellow 
light, such as best enables the examiner to discern 
the shades of color. 

Color. 

The highest grade of cotton is naturally bleached 
and must be perfectly white. Cotton having a cor- 

32 



responding- quality of staple, cleanliness, flexibility, 
and general purity, but showing a gray, cream, or 
brownish cast would be considered "off color," or, 
as it is termed in the newer classification, "Tinged." 
Cotton that is tinged cannot be classed with any one 
of the highest four grades— that is, with Fair, Strict 
Middling Fair, Middling Fair and Barely Middling 
Fair. The name, "Fair," being given to these 
grades, as we may understand, precludes the pos- 
sibility of "Tinge." Cottons of equivalent grade in 
every particular, except color, vary about one-half 
cent per pound in favor of the white grade. In the 
"Grade List" issued by the New York Cotton Ex- 
change September, 1907, Good Middling was rated 
one-half cent higher than Middling. On the same 
list Good Middling Tinged is given the same value 
as Middling Untinged. This order of difference 
in value prevails throughout the list and is to be 
accepted as a law which fixes the color variation 
of value at one-half cent per pound. 

Vision and Touch. 

Vision and touch are the co-operative agents in 
the work of classification. The eye and the hand 
move in harmony to a quick and practical decision. 
A representative sample is procured by the ex- 
aminer. He plucks from the larger parcel a smaller 
quantity in a seemingly careless manner, yet he 
gives the very closest observation to the particles 
of fiber as they may kink, twist about, cling to- 
gether, and show such other characteristic resis- 
tance or yielding to separation as would indicate 
certain points of grade. He compresses the de- 
tached smaller part in his single hand, noting, the 
easy pliability, velvety softness, naturally live 

33 



moist touch, or, as it may be their opposites, harsh- 
ness, dryness and brittleness, judging in a moment 
the presence or absence of that flexibility, elasticity 
and responsiveness which give vigor and strength 
to tlie staple body. He turns again to the staple. 
With thumb and ringer he separates or pulls apart 
a smaller portion that he may see the length of the 
fiber, and judge by its resistance to separation its 
general quality of strength. He will note that the 
fiber is of uniform length or not; that A is A coarse 



or fine, that the layers lie in parallel line or de- 
parting angle, the presence or absence of gin cut 
and dead fibers, and particularly will he note the 
spirality or movement and the quick or slow action 
of the ends of the separated fibers, as they coil and 
move back to the bulk which has retained them. 
Again he will turn to the general sample. Of its 
dampness and soundness he has already judged. He 
looks for impurities. He sees broken leaves, sticks, 
shells and stains, or he does not see them. He 
may^ find much foreign substance and impurity, and 
he may find only the few that are termed natural. 
In the meantime color has been determined, and the 
whole question of classifying that grade has been 
settled. 

In the matter of Grading cotton the governing 
principle is the character of the staple. With good 
vision and touch it is easy to know its quality. 
Then, as a rule, first locate the exact Grade of 
the staple, and place it in that classification re- 
gardless of whatever defects it may carry. Next, 
proceed to list its impurities. If it has no impuri- 
ties or defects, it belongs in the grade assigned 
to its staple, but if it has note them, one by one, 
and reduce the classification accordingly. 

34 



<&> 



Where the Farmer Stands. 

You wilj observe that under the present classifica- 
tion tiif white grades range from "Fair,*' the high- 
est, to "Good Ordinary," the lowest, embracing in 
number seventeen grades. The quoted difference 
in value of tiie extreme grades is three and three- 
fourths cents, or an average of nearly one-quarter 
of a cent per grade. Grading cotton, in so far as 
the farmer is concerned, is either a ridiculous farce, 
or cotton buyers, as a class, are superior morally to 
ordinary humanity. There are doubtless many hon- 
est grading buyers, but many does not mean all 
by a great number. The opportuniy is afforded, and 
the temptation is great. The farmer does not 
know, and if he is willing to prove his satisfaction 
with a "top of the market" sale by "setting up" din- 
ner to the buyer after the transaction, all con- 
science twinges are alleviated. Let us take a good 
"Uplands" producing county in any one of the 
states and from September and October clean pick- 
ings of well matured good stapled white cotton sup- 
pose 2,000 bales shall be marketed. According to 
these conditions 1,500 of these bales ought to be 
graded "Strict Good Middling," some of them 
higher. The chance would be, however, that not 
one in the entire lot would be graded above "Mid- 
dling" and many of them below that grade. Mid- 
dling is the basis of the market quotation, and the 
farmer who gets the highest quoted price and re- 
turns to his neighbors with the boast, "I got the 
top of the market for the most of mine," is the 
victim. In such a case the actual loss to this one 
county of cotton growers would exceed $5,000. Yet, 
year after year it is clone, and thus it has become 



a custom. While digressing in this line it is proper 
to state that the spinner — the manufacturer — is not 
a party to this one-sided deal. When the cotton 
is presented to him, every grade and type is priced 
according to its value — no more and no less. In 
this latter transaction all parties are equally well 
informed. But the poor farmer! Where was he? 
In all his long life he has not had even one lit- 
tle short week to give to 

A Study of Classification. 

Keeping in mind the fact that perfect staple and 
absolute freedom from impurities are not to be 
expected in the highest typed bale of cotton, we 
have none the less a standard highest grade. From 
this grade to the basis, the middle or medium grade 
between the highest and the lowest, including 
"Strict Good Middling Tinged," there are ten steps 
of descent. If we should take a bale of our best 
stapled and cleanest white cotton and grade it 
"Fair," there must be some falling off either in 
quality of staple or character of purity, or both, 
to make the first descending step to "Strict Mid- 
dling Fair." There might not appear any additional 
impurity and the staple might be as good, yet differ- 
ent, and the grade is not the same. The long fibered 
more fragile but finer fillament would take prece- 
dence over the shorter, coarser and stronger staple 
with which it would be compared. As we would 
come down the line, at each step we should find 
changes in the classification occurring from differ- 
ence in length and strength, lack of uniformity and 
other previously mentioned inequalities of the sta- 
ple. 

36 



The Basis. 

"Middling," the medium or middle quality be- 
tween "Fair" and "Ordinary," is the basis of classi- 
fication. Given a sample of white, firm, elastic and 
flexible bulk fiber having staple of uniform measure 
from three-fourth of an inch to one inch in length, 
with a minimum showing of broken leaf, and with- 
out stain or any of the heavy impurities of shell, 
motes, etc., and we should have an accepted grade 
of "Middling." Observe there is a difference be- 
tween "broken" leaf and "peppered" leaf. The lat- 
ter in its pulverized form is considered a very ob- 
jectionable impurity, as previously explained. No 
sample carrying powdered leaf in quantity, or stem 
trash could be classed "Middling." 

All classifications, higher than Middling, are sup- 
posed to be unaffected by the slight impurities they 
may carry. But from "Middling" through the de- 
scending grades impurities are an important consid- 
eration. Staple still holds its priority. But even 
a good staple loses its finer character when asso- 
ciated with impurities. The quality of the staple 
falls off, or the impurities increase, or both, in the 
old classification, from "Middling" to "Inferior." 
"Inferior" grades are usually from late pickings of 
short-developed or half-open frost bitten bolls. The 
staple is of the lowest type, and the fiber is nearly 
always stained. "Inferior" has its descending 
grades through a varying line from bad to worse, 
known as "Dog-tails." 

All strict commercial classification lies between 
the grades of from "Fair" to "Good Ordinary." 
These represent the extreme variations in value of 
about four cents. Below the grade of Ordinary, 

37 



"Tinge," or the natural color of the cotton does not 
affect its grade. From this point it is purely a 
question of staple and impurity. In this matter, if 
the staple is comparatively good or bad the accom- 
panying impurities would govern its valuation. The 
whole list of impurities has been given on a pre- 
ceding page, as well as their respective degrees of 
damaging character. A careful study of the ques- 
tion of Impurities should be made. "The last of the 
crop" is supposed to be gradeless, but not so ; it is 
only gradeless as it affords the buyer an opportunity 
to place his knowledge against the inexperience 
of the seller. Where one knows and the other 
guesses, the guesser is the loser. The shrewd buyer 
not only grades this kind of Cotton, but he also 
grades the man who offers it for sale. That is, he 
sizes up the one and undergrades the other, much 
to his own satisfaction and profit. 

Codes. 

We have only a few very large cotton firms who 
buy directly from the producer, yet the whole field 
is covered by them. Instead of the usual terms 
of commercial classification, each of these firms has 
a "Code"' made up of letters or figures to represent 
the different classifications. These "Codes" are used 
only in one way, and that is in the deal between 
these same buyers, or their agents, and the farmers 
or producers. When the turn is made by them to 
the regular market these "Code" classifications are 
dropped, and the regular market terms are em- 
ployed. Imagine the blank look that would shade 
the face of any regular market buyer if you should 
offer him a lot of cotton and tell him that it ought 
to class ali around, fours or fives or Bs or Ds. He 

3» 



would no more understand you than if you were to 
address him in Chinese. These "Codes" are admitted 
to be variable; that is, subject to change, as to the 
precise grades represented at all times. In several 
of the states, the State of Georgia for instance, the 
arbitrary "Code" of one firm of cotton buyers is the 
only classification known. 

Granting the probability that no imposition has 
been practiced through this method of grading, still 
a uniform basis of classification, understood by all, 
would be better. Then again, if, say, "fours" in 
Alabama is not "fours" in South Carolina, what 
would be "fours" in Georgia? If I should fix a 
"Code" grading "Fours" as Middling and you 
should so understand it and, later for my conveni- 
ence, I should change "Fours"' to "Good Middling," 
to say the least, you would not have a clear con- 
ception of the market grades. It is generally con- 
ceded that a uniform universally accepted system 
of grading by number would be better than the 
present, but until such time as this may be done, 
let us cling to the old system. In the present sys- 
tem of private Codes in use the numbers range 
from ones for "Fair" to fours for "Middling," and 
eights and ten for the ordinary and inferior grades. 
The numbers employed, however, run much higher, 
as the lower grades are to be designated. 

A Quotation. 

Charles William Burkett, Professor of Agricul- 
ture in the State College of North Carolina, in his 
work entitled, "Cotton," published in 1906, com- 
ments on the respective situations of producer and 
buyer as follows : 

"Ordinarily the judgment rests solely with the 

39 



buyer. He classes fiber as he thinks it should be 
classed, or as he chooses to class it, and offers a 
market price for that grade of cotton. You can 
readily see that where only a single buyer is pres- 
ent, and especially if that one be unscrupulous to 
some degree, a considerable loss may come to the 
producer and a corresponding gain to the buyer. 
Naturally there are tricks in buying cotton as there 
are tricks in other trades, and honesty and business 
integrity find recognition in the cotton market as 
they do elsewhere in life. 

"The most satisfactory selling is done where sev- 
eral buyers are on hand, and this competition, as a 
rule, means the highest price will be offered. Of 
course even in this case buyers may join hands and 
one do the most of the buying one day, another a 
second day, and so on, each taking his turn and 
getting his cotton at the lowest price. But the 
daily paper now gives the farmer the prices in the 
leading markets of the world, and with the rail- 
ways making transportation to better markets easy, 
he usually secures what the product is worth, or at 
least the market value of the grade in which it is 
classed." 

The "But" above, referring to daily papers and 
railways, loses all its force in the concluding words 
of the paragraph, which are, "Or at least the market 
value of the grade in which it is classed." Yes, 
classed by the buyer and not the seller. 

Advisory. 

Let any farmer or any other person who wishes to 
take up this study read this little book over care- 
fully, if possible, keeping a full, variety of samples 
before him. Every single reading of the descrip- 

40 



tions, and comparisons made as directed would be 
equivalent almost to a season's active work in a 
warehouse, falling only a little short of a practical 
experience. A full variety of samples may be pro- 
cured by addressing the publishers of this work. 



4« 



WARNING 



Every page, every line, ever)'- word and every 
syllable comprising the contents of this little book, 
"The Cotton Grader, or How to Classify Cotton," 
is protected by copyright. To a majority of those 
into whose hands it may fall this announcement 
will have no significance. But there are others. It 
is contemplated that the information it may con- 
vey shall go out directly from its authors to the 
individuals to be benefitted thereby. This does not 
mean that any person desiring to possess a copy 
would be barred from obtaining it from the pub- 
lishers or through the legitimate channels of trade. 
It means that any appropriation of the work, in 
parts or as a whole, to be used, secondarily, for the 
promotion of private educational enterprises would 
be an infringement. Let those concerned be gov- 
erned accordingly. 

THE PUBLISHERS. 



42 



( Advertisement.) 

T H E 

INTER -STATE 
COTTON 
COLLEGE 

The Inter-state Cotton College will give a thor- 
ough course in the Art of Grading Cotton. It is 
the first school of the kind to be established, and 
is the only Cotton Classifying school now on the 
Globe. Its promoters were first to see the necessity 
for such an Institution, and they were first to move 
in the direction of waiting upon that demand. They 
will furnish every facility for a thorough practical 
education in the lines of instruction to be given. 

The announcement and extensive advertisement 
of this college work has suggested to others the es- 
tablishing of so-called "correspondence schools." By 
this method, if honestly conducted, a measure of 
knowledge pertaining to the subject may be im- 
parted. However, it is not only more expensive, 
but it is less beneficial than a course taken under 
the personal and present supervision of a competent 
instructor. 

In a Home Course samples of every possible 
grade and type of cotton should be furnished, with 
a clearly written minute explanation of the charac- 
teristic points of each, with its variations from, and 
mergeable relations with, approximate grades. This 
is exactly what the unstable "tell you how" cor- 

43 



respondence schools will not undertake to do. The 
Inter-state College has the best advantages in the 
matter of securing and making up Samples of 
Grades, and will furnish a complete "Budget" of 
these samples to any one who cannot, at present, 
conveniently attend the College and take a more 
practical course. The Terms of the home or "Bud- 
get" course permits the student to attend the 
College at any future time, however re- 
mote, and receive free such later and bet- 
ter training as he might need or desire. That 
is, the terms of a correspondence course would in- 
clude an unlimited scholarship course in the Col- 
lege. 

If you wish to take up the study of Cotton Grad- 
ing and Classifying, do not adopt any Half-way 
means. Get the best. For either the College Prac- 
tical Training or the Sample Budget and Home In- 
struction Course apply to the Inter-state Cotton 
College, Atlanta, Georgia. 



U 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

018 532 248 8 



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